Flu shot makes me ill

 It was inevitable.  I got my flu shot last week, and so what happened this week???  I'm sick, of course.  Yes, I work in a doctor's office where it's just about impossible to not pick up the germs brought into the office on a daily basis.  There is definitely something to be said for working in that type of environment for any extended period of time, because you do build up a certain degree of immunity after awhile.  The catch this year??  Our employee flu vaccines were MANDATORY.    Now I have consented to receive the flu shot for the past few years, no questions asked.  This past summer, when it was announced that it was no longer an option to decline, that's when I started questioning if I really wanted it or not.  No, I'm not a nurse, but I still have enough patient contact to cause concern.  Just the fact that they hand me their wadded up, damp, dirty money when they check-in, that's reason enough to warrant getting the flu shot.  It's just that I, and I'm guessing most of you as well, don't like being told that I absolutely have to do something that was once upon a time my choice by the powers that be.  Those powers that be are all too aware that it's a climate out there where people are not going to be inclined to protest.  What happens if you refuse the flu shot?  Well, the least of it being you must wear a face mask until "flu season" expires, and the worst of it being that they will deem you to be unworthy of a merit increase next year.  I'm still somewhat shocked that no one has taken this to the local newspaper/TV news station.  It seems highly illegal to essentially require your employees to receive a vaccine.  Apparently, there's a very similar case over in South Carolina.  Food for thought.  So out of curiosity, do you get the flu shot every fall?  Why or why not?

The Middle-Aged & Clueless

Just prior to working in my current office, I worked for two female bosses that were completely opposite.  My previous office, had around 60 ppl, and was extremely cliquey.  One of my bosses there would not even bother to make eye contact with me if I said, "Good Morning".  The other was your classic back-stabber, earning your trust and then turning right around and betraying your confidence the mere moment she was given the opportunity.  It was like a breath of fresh air, when I began working in my current office, all of 2 years ago.  I remember thinking how nice it was that my boss treated me as a human being.  Sure, she seemed to talk excessively about her personal life, but I still gave her the benefit of the doubt.  I had only been working there a few weeks, when a fellow co-worker asked me if I had yet to notice how our boss could manage to make ANY topic about her.   I tested this theory by purposely chatting with my boss about the most random of topics, and sure enough, somehow we'd end up discussing her.  What really cracks me up is how totally oblivious she is in her one-sided conversations.  One would think that if all you were getting for feedback was the standard, "Yep." "Uh-huh." "Really?" that maybe the person isn't all that engaged.  I have also tried countless times to display as many non-interested non-verbal cues as possible, but nothing stops this woman from telling me things that I never wanted to know!!!!  Apparently surviving TMI has become such a popular issue that even the folks on EHow have created a how-to to handle it properly. 

Case of the Mondays

 If you Google "survival in the office", one of the top five hits will be the following article from New York Magazine.  I've been a fan of the American television show The Office since even before I began working in one full-time.   Despite all the cringe-worthy moments portrayed in the fictional series, it's still a great escape at the end of a busy week.  How does the clip below NOT help improve any "Case of the Mondays"???

Movie Mondays


Any opportunity I can possibly use to laugh off the insanity of my work life is my first choice of defense.  I've found that this automatic mood boost can be successfully achieved in several variations. It can be as simple as updating my Facebook status to a thinly veiled rant (that my boss being on my blocked list will never read) or just venting to my best friend in an after work phone call.  

Lately, it hasn't been so much TMI as it has been that she's NEVER there.  This may sound like a good thing, and that I'm complaining about nothing.   I realize that there are jobs out there where you can be your own boss and set your own hours, but my line of work is not one of them.  I can't decide if my boss' superior just simply doesn't care that she's never there or he's completely oblivious to just how much she's absent in any given week.   It's even come to the point where myself and the other nurses question if she's really attending these so-called "Manager's Meetings".  Prime example of her inability to show up at work being just this past Monday morning.   After leaving at 1 pm the Friday before to "run errands" (I wish I was kidding), she text messaged me the following Monday morning to tell me that her "car won't start".  It was a quarter past 10 when she finally made it in, blaming her 16 yr old daughter for leaving the lights on all night thus draining her battery.  I've been working in this doctor's office for two years now, and it's always something with this this lady and her bottomless bag of ridiculousness. 

 

My boss' TMI makes my ears bleed

In most office settings, there are boundaries.  Not in mine.  My boss treats me as if I'm her very own personal BFF/therapist/lap dog all rolled into one convenient package that also happens to work for her 40 hrs/wk.  I've only had the distinct pleasure of working for her for the past two years, but somehow it feels like twenty.  I've vented these stories to my close friends, and all reply with the same conclusion; I could easily fill a salacious, some might even label it vindictive in spirit, novel with her daily musings.  Ironically, my boss is constantly saying how SHE could write a memoir based on her crazy life experiences.   Names will be changed for obvious reasons, but the stories will remain the same.  It's been said that "truth is stranger than fiction", and truer words were never uttered in this case.